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Equity In Microscale Urban Design And Walkability: A Photographic Survey Of Six Pittsburgh Streetscapes, Bradley Bereitschaft

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

This paper explores inequity in neighborhood walkability at the micro-scale level by qualitatively examining six streetscapes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A photographic survey is used to highlight differences in the quality and design of the built environment among pairs of streetscapes with high or low social vulnerability but approximately equal quantitative Walk Scores®. The survey revealed discernible differences in the quality and maintenance of the built environment among those in more and less disadvantaged neighborhoods. This was true of several characteristics expected to affect walkability, including enclosure, transparency, complexity, and tidiness. Streetscapes in neighborhoods with high social vulnerability exhibited less contiguous …

A Landscape Of Thermal Inequity: Social Vulnerability To Urban Heat In U.S. Cities, Bruce Coffyn Mitchell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A combination of the urban heat island effect and a rising temperature baseline resulting from global climate change inequitably impacts socially vulnerable populations residing in urban areas. This dissertation examines distributional inequity of exposure to urban heat by socially disadvantaged groups and minorities in the context of climate justice. Using Cutter’s hazards-of-place model, variables indicative of social vulnerability and biophysical vulnerability are statistically tested for their associations. Biophysical vulnerability is conceptualized utilizing a urban heat risk index calculated from summer 2010 LANDSAT imagery to measure land surface temperature , structural density through the normalized difference built-up index, and vegetation abundance …

Grassroots Resistance In The Sustainable City: Portland Harbor Superfund Site Contamination, Cleanup, And Collective Action, Erin Katherine Goodling

Dissertations and Theses

How does progressive change happen in so-called sustainable cities? In this dissertation, I present findings from a three year-long ethnographic investigation of grassroots organizing in Portland, Oregon, a city at the leading edge of the green urbanism movement. This research centered on an extended case study of the Portland Harbor Community Coalition (PHCC). PHCC is an alliance of grassroots groups working to ensure that cleanup of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site benefits those who have been most impacted by pollution. In this dissertation, I develop three main empirical findings. First, despite depoliticized (sustainability) discourse permeating the harbor cleanup planning process, …

Labor Leading On Climate: A Policy Platform To Address Rising Inequality And Rising Sea Levels In New York State, J. Mijin Cha

Pace Environmental Law Review

With the renewed need for state action, this paper presents a case study of a labor-led initiative in New York State that seeks to address both economic inequality and the climate crisis. It discusses how organized labor, which has historically represented fossil fuel workers and has not been seen as a traditional climate ally, put forth a comprehensive climate jobs plan that could meaningfully reduce carbon emissions while also creating good, family-sustaining jobs to reduce income inequality. As the need for a broader coalition to advocate for sensible climate policy increases, this case study provides a road map for states …

Regulating The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Interdependencies, Transaction Costs And Procedural Justice, Shaun Larcom, Terry Van Gevelt

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

There have been calls for an overhaul of regulatory and governance frameworks to incorporate the implications of the water-energy-food nexus. We map one small component of the regulatory space of the nexus and highlight its immense complexity. We draw on insights from the economics and socio-legal literatures to show that a decentralised approach to regulation based upon procedural justice can enable the trade-offs of the nexus to be considered and addressed. We use a nexus case study of micro hydro-electricity generation in Dartmoor National Park in England to show that when we take into account interactions between state and non-state …

Urban Parks For All: Reclaiming Public Green Space In New York City, Emily Putnam

Student Theses 2015-Present

This thesis focuses on the issue of public green space in an urban environment and the politics surrounding such access in New York City. It turns out that the otherwise affluent Upper East Side and Midtown East actually report the least amount of public green space in the city in Community Boards 6 and 8. Against the backdrop of an investigation of the environmental history of New York City, I focus on a small park in Sutton Place that has been exclusively used by residents of an elite apartment building for decades despite being legally owned by the city of …

Tension And Complexity In Decolonial Advocacy: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Situated Approach In Western Shoshone, Bikinian, And Hawaiian Resistance To Militarized Colonialism, Taylor Johnson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Decolonial advocacy is a difficult, complex, tension-filled realm. Indigenous advocates working for decolonization must navigate decisions about whether or not to utilize rhetorics derived from the colonial systems they challenge, when to make material demands on colonial states and when to turn inward, and when and how to build coalitions with non-indigenous people. Decolonial movements in the Western Shoshone Nation, the Marshall Islands, and Hawai’i have approached these questions in differing but overlapping ways that address the varied colonial histories each nation faces.

This thesis argues that each of these movements has alternatively utilized and rejected colonial rhetorics to serve …

Micro Plastics And Their Implications For Human Health: An Environmental Justice Approach, Alexis Smith

ENV 334 Environmental Justice

Studies have shown microplastics are ubiquitous within global waterways. They have been found in waterways that supply drinking water to millions and they have also been found at various levels within the aquatic food chain. This implies that, not only are we eating microplastics, we are drinking them too. What does the reality that we are consuming plastic daily mean for humans as a species?

2017 Research & Innovation Day Program, Mackenzie Nesbitt, Hannah Niesen, Allison Menegoni, Linda Whitehead, Amy Luck, Reanna Bandi, Amina Fajkovic, Robert Sutherland, Kyle Sullivan, Victoria Sutherland, Scott G. Veenvliet, Mackenzie Lorn Jagoo Myles, Afrah Fatima, Michelle Anger, Ursula Goniarski, Cherie Hall, Kai Hatje-Moule, Jillian Moorehouse, Nicole Hawkins, Anna Fekete, Jacob Squire, Dalton Heil, Michael Jennings, Kristina Pepe, Angela Bourne, Mackenzie Howson, Dinesh Jeevanandam, Martin Volkening, Bruce Steers, Robert Nicol, Leah Tomaszewski, Mark Challinor, Michael Zhang, Pat Girard, A&L Labs, Xiaoming Gou, Kayla Bailey, Emilio Barbero, Jessica Bouchard, Karen Hale, Jessica Wilkins, Ruth Montgomery, Madison Henry, Stacy Lyons, Olalekan Hassan Agboke, Chelsea Woods, Youth Opportunities Unlimited, Kate Sadler, Meghan Mastronardi, Taylor Myers, Allyson Richter, Victoria Nagy, Ian Jones, Esden Geary, Melissa Echlin, Clay Greene, Steve Done, Eric Wingelaar, Charlane Cluette, Denise Luksys, Robert Mosley, Megan Trigila, Viacheslav Astashevskii, Nikolai Ustiantcev, Dhvani Mehta, Akshay Saini, Kristin Cadotte, Gabriela Aquino, Palasad, Nadia Kuhni, Lindsey Webber, Tamas J. Lindenmaier, Elizabeth Lorusso, Julia Flook, Dugg Steary, Julie Brown, Lorie Ranieri, Helen Harrison, Amy Mitchell, Firdaus Imambaccus, Lisa Mccorquodale, Thames Valley District School Board, Ruwan Bedeir, Arlynes Argueta Garcia, Nicholas Bouvier, Danielle Stephen, Paula Burns, Gurtej Singh Bhoday, Chandan Pathek, Derek Baker, Seyedehshahrzad Ghafouriansahraei, Sara Grehorini, Phylicia Getty, Kelsey O'Donnell, Robin Moffatt, Mary Chamberlain, Lauren April Koza, Johann Tan Ting, Austin Mitchell, Robert Haaf, John Bennett, Natalia Aguillon, Tandeep Sidhu, Amanda Mercer, Alicia Bulhoes, Jimmy Ramirez, Sabrina Moreira Villela, Amneh Kalloush P.Eng, Solomon Asantey P.Eng, Shannon Enwright, Adam Luxton, Nicholas Ireland, Abby Stokes, Allison Mills, Vibha Venkatram, Andre Foreman, Connor Giroux, Karissa Thornton, Kaitlyn Poirier, Kevin Bonden, Julia Van Damme, Morgan Wardell, Amy Turnbull, Russell Vey, Andrew Ross, Jesse Bourret-Gheysen, Colette Van Dyk, Julia Bowering, Jing Zhang, Cheryl Ketola, Heather Gillespie, Andrea Mellon, Jude Silva, Krista Ly, Tina Bonnett, Brianne Englander, Marcela Lievano, Jesse Milley, Zachary Klassen, Julia Jezic, Megan Ward, Huda Bander, Ryan Chanyi, Jeremy Burton, Kris James, Peter Cadieux, Natalya Yudina, Jamie Louwagie, Kaylen O'Rourke, Haylee Siddall, James Booth, Leap Junction, London Lindyhoppers, Swing London Inc., Eli Paddle, Jason Gilliland, Seyed Goosheh, Jennifer Patterson, William Pol, Russell Schnurr, Natalia Aguillon, Megan Anderson, Linda Crosby, Lorie Ranieri, Ronna Hoglund, Carol Butler, Gail Brown, Michael J. Boisvert, Natalie Rowe

Centre for Research and Innovation Publications

A one day showcase of applied research, social innovation, scholarship projects and activities.

Indigenous People, Development And Environmental Justice: Narratives Of The Dayak People Of Sarawak, Malaysia, Elizabeth Weinlein '17

EnviroLab Asia

Focusing on the indigenous people of Sarawak, this article explores the authors learned biases as well as the dispelling of myths through hands on experiences in Malaysia. Over the period of a couple days, it becomes apparent that the indigenous people in Sarawak are not victims of systems of oppression, but survivors who continue to fight for their land rights and livelihoods.

Clean Electrification, Shelley Welton

Faculty Publications

To combat climate change, many leading states have adopted the aim of creating a “participatory” grid. In this new model, electricity is priced based on time of consumption and carbon content, and consumers are encouraged to adjust their behavior and adopt new technologies to maintain affordable electricity. Although a more participatory grid is an important component of lowering greenhouse gas emissions, it also raises a new problem of clean energy justice: utilities and consumer advocates claim that such policies unjustly benefit the rich at the expense of the poor, given the type of consumer best able to participate in the …

White Privilege In Environmental Policy: An Analysis Of Hazardous Waste Management And Operations In Southeast Los Angeles, Lindsey Chen

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis takes an unconventional approach to environmental racism. Through the lens of white privilege and racial capitalism, I analyze hazardous waste procedures, work site dynamics, and governmental enforcement. Southeast Los Angeles encompasses 26 neighborhoods and the communities racial demographic is 85.8% people of color. The region is home to an abundance of hazardous waste generators, and the area is disproportionately burdened by pollution compared to the rest of LA County. I chose white privilege as a framework because more often than not, discrimination in the workplace is unintentional and covert. White privilege manifests through hazardous waste management in four …

Environmental Justice And Extractive Industries: The Lummi Nation And Amazonian Indigenous, Gabriel D. Moe-Lobeda

MA IDS Thesis Projects

The negative impacts created by the operations of extractive industries are disproportionately felt by indigenous peoples around the world. Frequently, environmental justice organizations led by non-indigenous individuals or groups make efforts to support the work of these indigenous communities who are fighting to protect their peoples, cultures, and environments from mining, drilling, or other extractive operations. However, oftentimes environmental justice actors, no matter how well-intentioned, do not act in ways that are beneficial to indigenous efforts or respectful of indigenous peoples. This research study looks to examine how indigenous peoples who are fighting against extractive industries on their lands view …

Environmental Justice Litigation In California: How Effective Is Litigation In Addressing Slow Violence?, Deedee Chao

CMC Senior Theses

As the environmental justice movement has spread and become more mainstream since its start in the 1980s, its framework and body of knowledge has expanded, and environmental justice activists, organizers, and scholars have developed and critiqued different methods through which environmental justice can be pursued. Among its relatively new concepts is the idea of slow violence, or the long-term and continuous impacts of environmental injustices on an afflicted community; and among the methods examined by scholars is environmental justice litigation, where legal action is taken, often with members of an affected community as plaintiffs, to remedy environmental injustices within that …

Rethinking Redevelopment: Neoliberalism, New Urbanism And Sustainable Urban Design In Cleveland, Ohio, Julian Geltman

Honors Papers

This article explores unintended consequences of recent urban design initiatives in Cleveland, Ohio. Historically rife with environmental injustice issues, Cleveland’s built environment continues to exhibit issues of distributive justice across racialized spaces. In this research project, I first investigate whether and how New Urbanist aesthetics are geared towards a white spatial imaginary and subsequently deconstructing its whiteness. I seek to answer: is New Urbanism inherently racist? I then explore how New Urbanism in the U.S. has spread into circles of sustainable urban design, pushing space and place towards a homogenized normativity. Third, I examine the history of racial prejudice in …

Interrogating The "And": A Study Of Environmentalism And Disability, Melissa Cabat

Honors Papers

Mainstream environmental activists often draw the correlation between environment and disability as being a matter of public health inequities, including air quality, pollution, and now the aftereffects of fracking. These are important, but they only scratch the surface of the link between these movements. I will discuss the movement of ecodisablism and how climate justice activists with disabilities, including the Crips for Climate Justice movement, have been influenced by climate and disability activism. This research is relevant as the massive baby boomer population ages and risks losing their connection to nature due to inaccessible green spaces. Moreover, discussing disability rights …

Recent Developments In Climate Justice, Randall S. Abate, Rachel Jean-Baptiste, Maria Antonia Tigre, Patricia Ferreira, Wil Burns

Journal Publications

Climate justice can be defined generally as addressing the disproportionate burden of climate change impacts on poor and marginalized communities. It seeks to promote more equitable allocation of these burdens at the local, national, and global levels through proactive regulatory initiatives and reactive judicial remedies that draw on international human rights and domestic environmental justice theories. Yet, efforts to define climate justice as a field of inquiry remain elusive and underinclusive; a recent book, Climate Justice: Case Studies in Global and Regional Governance Challenges (ELI Press 2016), seeks to fill that void by providing an overview of the landscape of …

From Disposable Culture To Disposable People: Teaching About The Unintended Consequences Of Plastics, Sasha Adkins

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Plastics, the epitome of disposable culture, pose both a toxicological and a spiritual problem. This dissertation examines plastics at a molecular level using the discourse of endocrine disruption, and at a sociological level using the discourses of eco-theology and environmental justice. Adding to the literature on the adsorption of toxicants to plastic marine debris, I demonstrate that certain types of plastic -- those containing mercaptans, such as styrene butadiene block copolymer -- efficiently concentrate methyl mercury from seawater. Further, samples of polycarbonate contributed mercury to seawater. I propose the term plastic-mediated magnification to describe the phenomenon that plastics, along with …

Oceans Of Space, Stephanie Steinbrecher '16

EnviroLab Asia

"Oceans of Space" relates my observations of the 2016 EnviroLab Asia Clinic Trip to Singapore and Sarawak, Malaysia. In this meditation, the concept of space serves as a lens to examine assumptions of geopolitical, historical, and philosophical positioning—regionally and globally. At the center of my inquiry is EnviroLab's connection to the Dayak communities in Baram, Sarawak. This region is experiencing dramatic social and ecological change as a result of industrial development. By triangulating my subjective impressions of this space, various knowledge systems, and the qualitative data EnviroLab gathered in Southeast Asia, I aim to untangle some paradoxes that complicate the …

Integrating Environmental Justice Into Public Health: Approaches For Understanding Cumulative Impacts, Gina Solomon, John Faust, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Lauren Zeise

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Communities located near multiple sources of pollution, including current and former industrial sites, major roadways, and agricultural operations, are often predominantly low-income, with a large percentage of minorities and non-English speakers. These communities face additional challenges that can affect the health of their residents, including limited access to health care, a shortage of grocery stores, poor housing quality, and a lack of parks and open spaces. Research is now showing that environmental exposures can interact with social stressors, thereby worsening health outcomes. Age, nutrition, genetic characteristics, and preexisting health conditions also increase the risk of adverse health effects from exposure …

Racial Inequality And The Implementation Of Emergency Management Laws In Economically Distressed Urban Areas, Shawna J. Lee, Amy Krings, Sara Rose, Krista Dover, Jessica Ayoub, Fatima Salman

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

This study examines the use of emergency management laws as a policy response to fiscal emergencies in urban areas. Focusing on one Midwestern Rust Belt state, we use a mixed methods approach – integrating chronology of legislative history, analysis of Census data, and an ethnographic case study – to examine the dynamics of emer- gency management laws from a social justice perspective. Analysis of Census data showed that emergency man- agement policies disproportionately affected African Americans and poor families. Analysis indicated that in one state, 51% of African American residents and 16.6% of Hispanic or Latinos residents had lived in …

Landscapes Of Environmental Justice: A Post-Structural Analysis Of Ecological Structures And Environmental Discourses, Sima Namin

Planning Dissertations - Archive

Although application of ecological concepts and looking at the city as an 'ecological space' or ecosystem is not new in planning (e.g. Chicago school), in the context of environmental justice research there is a need for a more integrated approach towards the complex interrelations between human aspects of urban landscapes and urban ecology. Consequently, the first starting point of my research is that studying environmental justice also requires an understanding of environmental health. The second defining point of this research is influenced by the notion of questioning science and research as a 'social construct.' Drawing on Foucault's legacy of discourse …

Emerging Environmental Justice Issues In Nuclear Power And Radioactive Contamination, Dean Kyne, Bob Bolin

Sociology Faculty Publications

Nuclear hazards, linked to both U.S. weapons programs and civilian nuclear power, pose substantial environment justice issues. Nuclear power plant (NPP) reactors produce low-level ionizing radiation, high level nuclear waste, and are subject to catastrophic contamination events. Justice concerns include plant locations and the large potentially exposed populations, as well as issues in siting, nuclear safety, and barriers to public participation. Other justice issues relate to extensive contamination in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, and the mining and processing industries that have supported it. To approach the topic, first we discuss distributional justice issues of NPP sites in the U.S. …

Agenda: Indigenous Water Justice Symposium, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Indigenous Water Justice Symposium (June 6)

Indigenous peoples throughout the world face diverse and often formidable challenges of what might be termed “water justice.” On one hand, these challenges involve issues of distributional justice that concern Indigenous communities’ relative abilities to access and use water for self-determined purposes. On the other hand, issues of procedural justice are frequently associated with water allocation and management, encompassing fundamental matters like representation within governance entities and participation in decision-making processes. Yet another realm of water justice in which disputes are commonplace relates to the persistence of, and respect afforded to, Indigenous communities’ cultural traditions and values surrounding water—more specifically, …

Hydroelectric Dams: The Lao Government's Luxury Trap, M.K. Laurel

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

The research of the Lao government, its hydroelectric dams, and its responses to its project was done through an environmental justice lens. It is an interdisciplinary research that explores the political corruption, the role of media, and the environment in order to frame the Lao government and the reasoning behind their unjust activities.

Hayat Ağında Kapitalizm: Jason W. Moore Ile Bir Röportaj, Jason W. Moore

Sociology Faculty Scholarship

“Toplum artı doğa” anlayışının yeşil aritmetiğindeki sorun çevre adaleti ve toplumsal adalet, doğada sürdürülebilirlik ve toplumsal sürdürülebilirlik, ekolojik emperyalizm ve normal emperyalizm arasında yaptığımız garip ayrım. Emperyalizmin tarihini bilen herkes bilir ki aslında her şey “Neye değer veriyoruz?” ve “Toplumun hangi kesimine değer veriyoruz?” sorularıyla ilgili.

Fearless Friday: Laila Mufty, Laila M. Mufty

SURGE

In today’s Fearless Friday, Surge would like to honor the work of Laila Mufty ‘18. Laila is a sophomore from the Bay Area in California and is majoring in Environmental Studies. Currently, she is one of the CPS Program Coordinators with Big Brothers Big Sisters and is the Immersion Project Leader for the New Orleans trip in May focused on the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. In addition to her work with CPS, Laila participates in multiple cultural organizations on campus and has volunteered with El Centro, Painted Turtle Farm and Casa de la Cultura. Laila has also written and …

An Evaluation Of Noise Reduction Strategies At Large Commercial Airports In The United States: A Policy Analysis And Framework Classification, Tyler Spence

Open Access Dissertations

Noise pollution from aircraft, specifically in the vicinity of airports as aircraft takeoff and land, is a problem that has been shown to have negative impacts on the welfare of humans, animals, and the surrounding environment. The problem may only become worse as air travel increases for cargo and passenger operations, populations increase, and the overall number of aircraft increase. Currently, guidance has been issued from the International Civil Aviation Organization on how to combat the issue of noise pollution through policy, both at that national regulatory level, and at the local airport level. This study evaluated the local airport …

"Mi Niño Con Asma": Hispanic/Latina Mothers, Environmental Justice, And Photovoice At The Front Lines Of The Asthma Epidemic, Robin A. Evans-Agnew Rn, Phd, Julie Postma Rn, Phd, Lee Sledd M. Ed

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Asthma is an important environmental justice concern for first generation Mexican-Americans. Families experience disparities in housing conditions, access to care, and legal marginalization. Little is known about how Hispanic/Latina mothers of children with asthma navigate these oppressions.

Problem: The purpose of this paper is to describe the discourses of environmental justice of a group Hispanic/Latina caregivers of children with asthma.

Method: A photovoice design was used with Hispanic/Latina mothers (n=11) in Tacoma, Washington, to take, discuss, select and display phototexts to policymakers that communicated their experiences and opinions in managing asthma for their child. Using critical narrative analysis, phototexts were …

Cabalcor: An Extracted History By Sun Belt, Alec Follett

The Goose

Review of Sun Belt's Cabalcor: An Extracted History.